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No mechanical device is perfect for every application. You must consider the strengths and weaknesses of various technologies when evaluating the "soundness" of such technologies.

Consider automobiles using electric propulsion:

Strengths Include:

Mechanical simplicity, fewer moving parts generally means longer mechanical life spans
Efficiency of conversion, electric motors are extremely efficient ways to convert energy into mechanical motion
Solid State Control, again, electric drives allow for the reduction of mechanical components for such tasks as throttle, dynamic braking, etc.
Ability to run on ANY FUEL SOURCE that can produce electricity

Weaknesses Include:

Poor Energy Density when batteries are compared to tanks of gasoline
Higher Costs for exotic battery materials and their replacements
Narrower Environmental Range of operation due to effects on Battery Life
Ineffective distribution channels for recharging
Long Recharge Times

As the article states, the real drawback to electric vehicle acceptance in the marketplace IS THE BATTERY. Currently (no pun intended) there are some promising avenues of investigation (non-hyped ones, solid) that might get conventional lead-acid batteries to the point where a car could have a 250-300 mile range. An electric vehicle with that sort of range would largely erase the complaints of most folks, unless you were a travelling salesman. Upping the storage capacity for conventional batteries using advanced manufacturing techniques only increases the cost of the batteries in a way the manufacturer can control, as long the the batteries are not themselves made from exotic and expensive materials.

Another avenue rarely mentioned is the standardization of automobile battery packs, and a rapid way to swap them. You no doubt have many battery powered devices in your homes, using AAA, AA, C, D or other standardized sizes. You probably have electric drills and saws too. When such devices exhaust their batteries, you generally simply swap the battery quickly and continue working, while the spent batteries are either recharged or disposed of. No one caterwauls about how long it takes to recharge their electric drill (unless they fail to have a couple of packs to swap). The same thing could be done with cars, just imagine something like a "Quick Oil Change" station, where you drive your car over a pit to have your oil changed. Instead, your standard auto battery pack is removed from the bottom of the car, and a new one snapped in place, probably in about 5 minutes. This would be a comparable amount of time to filling your tank, and would be similar to swapping propane tanks, with deposits and such.

I have no problem with a free and open market working out possible solutions to these and other weaknesses to electric cars. I am not interested in the Fed Govt subsidizing them on my dime. If I wish to experiment, I will do it with my own money, and if you wish to, you should do it with yours.

The Volt is actually a very fine piece of machinery, it is just very expensive, and suitable for a narrow range of deployment. I would not buy one unless it was about 20K cheaper, and that is not about to happen any time soon.

Someone earlier commented that the Sandy victims would not be considering electric cars now. I'll play devil's advocate here and offer a counter argument:

If I were to be living in some sort of "post apocalyptic disaster" world, I might very well consider an electric vehicle, in that it would be FAR EASIER for me to rig up something to produce ELECTRICITY, then it would would be for me to try to REFINE GASOLINE. If my transportation runs on gas, I would have to find a supply of it ready made, as I could not concoct it on my own. I can however, imagine several ways to "McGuyver" a simple generator to charge my car periodically, even if slowly, so I could use it from time to time.